Encoding

Encoding is used to ensure that data can be exchanged between different systems that use different character sets. It facilitates interoperability between systems.

Anyone can encode data and decode it back to its original form using commonly available encoding schemes. It is intended for data representation, not for data security.

Example: Base64 encoding for binary data, URL encoding for special characters in URLs, and UTF-8 encoding for text

Encryption

Encryption is mainly used for data security. It prevents data from unauthorized access.

It is typically done using an encryption algorithm and an encryption key.

Encryption algorithms are logical operations that determine how the data will be transformed from its original form(plain text) to encrypted form(cipher text).

Most commonly used encryption algorithms are AES(Advanced Encryption Standard), RSA(Rivest-Shamir-Adleman)

In summary, encoding focuses on interoperability, allowing different systems to understand and exchange data. It does not provide security against unauthorized access. On the other hand, encryption prioritizes data security by converting data in a way that it can only be deciphered by those with the appropriate decryption keys, ensuring confidentiality.